Credit for Work Experience

What is the Prior Learning Assessment Program?

The Prior Learning Assessment Program offers a way for earning credit granted for verifiable college–level learning acquired through life or work experiences that can be documented in a portfolio and is equivalent to a college course (Experiential learning, training, employment, and certifications). It is credit that does not duplicate any previously earned credit.

What are the costs and fees for the Prior Learning Assessment Program?

Evaluation of the application and portfolio process is a non-refundable $200 fee charged at the time you are registered for the Prior Learning Portfolio Development online course.

The cost for posting credit to your transcript is $50.00 per credit hour awarded.

What is the maximum amount of credit that can be obtained through Prior Learning?

A maximum of 33 semester hours may be earned and includes credit for CLEP, DANTES, Military Credit and other approved forms of credit.

Prior Learning Assessment Program Documents

The following documents are Adobe PDF files, if you need Adobe software, CLICK HERE

How does the portfolio process begin?

The Academic Advising Center will register you for your first semester courses.

The coordinator of Prior Learning will contact you during your first semester to schedule a phone appointment to discuss the portfolio process in detail. Education majors will be contacted prior to the start of your first semester.

During the appointment, the prior learning program will be discussed and if recommended, you will be registered into the non-credit GENS 100 Prior Learning Portfolio Development course.

How can the Coordinator for Prior Learning assist me?

During your interview, the Coordinator for Prior Learning will review your past experiences, learning, skills, employment, training, and help in determining courses that fit your experiences.

The coordinator will discuss the competencies for the courses and help you determine whether you should apply for Prior Learning credit.

Once you receive the experiential checklists, it will be your responsibility to assess your knowledge as to whether you have attained 90 percent of the knowledge listed on the checklists.

You will follow-up with the coordinator to discuss enrollment into the Portfolio Development course.

While enrolled in the Portfolio Development course, the coordinator will assist you through the portfolio development process and provide initial review of documents.

How much time do I have to complete the Prior Learning Portfolio?

You will be enrolled into the Prior Learning Portfolio course during your second semester (Education majors during your first semester). You will have the entire semester to complete and submit your portfolio for review. The portfolio process must be complete before you have acquired a maximum of 96 semester hours (this includes transfer and university credit).

What is the portfolio review process?

The portfolio will be reviewed by the Coordinator for general competencies.

The portfolio will be submitted to the appropriate faculty member for review.

The faculty member generally has two weeks to complete the review of each course.

The Prior Learning Board gives final approval of credit.

What happens after the review?

You will receive notification as to the results of the review. These results may include credit for all or some of the courses requested for credit. The results may also include suggestions for a “rewrite” for a course that credit has been denied. One “rewrite” is allowed.

For additional questions, please contact your personal admission counselor by clicking here for transfer students, or by clicking here for Adult Degree Completion Students, or by phone at (800) 735-7500.